Digital Photography and Imaging- Project 2

21/4/2022- 5/6/2022 / Week 5 - Week 10
Chuah Kwai Pin / 0348376
Digital Photography and Imaging / Bachelor of Design (Hons) in Creative Media / Taylor's University
Project 2 Conceptual Product Photoshoot 

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Week 5: Project 2A

Part 1 (Double Exposure)

After Week 5's session on learning how to do double exposure, we were tasked to work on our own reflection by doing a double exposure on our own portraits.

Fig. 2.1 First few attempts

I tried out a few attempts to get familiar with how to use clipping masks and brush tool, however none of these attempts looked like double exposure. From the feedback I received on Week 6, I was encouraged to do some visual research on double exposure to get some inspirations and styles that I would like to try. I also received some reference suggestions from my lecturer which was a great help to me.

Fig. 2.2 Attempt on Black and White Double Exposure

For my double exposure, I wanted to focus on the ocean and the coastal areas. Hence, I chose this picture of a coastal area that I thought complemented well with my portrait. The texture of the hill on the right blended well with my hair and the waves of the ocean created a marble-like pattern in black and white.

Fig. 2.3 Attempt on Colour Double Exposure

As for my coloured attempt, I chose another picture of a coastal area and attempted the double exposure. I liked that the picture is well partitioned, where the natural greens are more centered towards the bottom, and the ocean blue waves are more heavy towards the top. To make the double exposure more interesting, I removed the top section of the head using a brush tool and replaced it with a cloud graphic and some birds to make it look like it was popping out from the image.


Final Outcomes:

Week 6: Project 2B

Exercise 1 (Hearst Mansion: My Reflection)

After watching the demo video of how to edit Shazam into Hearst Mansion, I took a full body photo of myself and followed the same steps shown in the video. I payed closer attention to the direction of light and tried to play with the lights and shadows. Overall, it was intriguing to see myself in a place I have never visited before.

Fig .3.1 Edit of myself in Hearst Mansion

Exercise 2 (Recolouring B&W photo)

For this exercise, we were also required to watch a demo video on how to recolour a B&W photo. It was very interesting to see how we can add any colours we want to a colourless photo, all the while preserving its original look and quality of the picture. This recoloured B&W picture was from our demo exercise.

Fig. 3.2 Recolouring B&W Demo Exercise

I have also picked this photo from the provided Google Drive folder because I loved the background patterns as well as the hair accessory used.

Fig. 3.3 Recolouring of B&W photo

Final Outcomes:

Week 7: Project 2C

Photo Manipulation

1) Visual Research

To start off, I began with scrolling through Pinterest for some existing photo manipulation ideas to see if there's anything I would like to attempt. I found a few pictures that could be categorised as a concept idea and compiled them into a post.

Fig. 4.1 Concept Idea 1

Fig. 4.2 Concept Idea 2

Fig 4.3 Concept Idea 3

2) Idea Sketches

After contemplating on my 3 concept ideas, I have decided to go with concept idea 1, using fruits to reveal something unexpected. I wanted to manipulate my photos in a way that will confuse people and make them question how it is done. To make it convincing, I figured I should start with the things I can find at home. I went through my fridge and found that I have a lot of fresh fruits that can be used for the photoshoot. I had an idea of using a lemon to reveal a raw egg. Since lemons are soft and are usually sliced open, it would be intriguing to see it being cracked open instead. In my sketches, I also sketched out another 2 ideas from the objects I have at home just in case my lemon and egg idea does not work out.

Fig. 4.1 Idea Sketches for Photo Manipulation

3) Photoshooting 

When shooting my subjects, I tried to choose a spot with good natural lighting instead of using artificial lights to prevent any harsh light reflections. In these 2 pictures, the direction of light shines in from the right side where my windows are. I took them around afternoon time when the sun rays were shining in. For the egg, I used a toothpick and a spoon to crack it. I needed to open up the shells in a way that it was not fully cracked.

Fig. 5.1 Photoshoot of lemon

Fig. 5.2 Photoshoot of cracked egg

4) Photo Editing

Once I was satisfied with the pictures, I opened it in Adobe Photoshop to begin editing. I started off with masking the egg and overlaying it onto the lemon. I paid close attention to the cracks and what parts I could include to make it more believable.

Fig. 5.3 Masking of the egg onto lemon

I also added some adjustment layers to further enhance the edited picture as it was too warm at first. I adjusted the curves and colour balance and also added a slight radial gradient to make the subject in the middle stand out more.

Fig. 5.4 Adding adjustment layers to enhance the picture

Fig. 5.5 Adjustment layers

After the feedback given on Week 10, I also added some egg shells onto the plate. I tried to keep it small and minimal to make it realistic since egg shells are fragile and they often break in tiny pieces.

Fig. 5.6 Final touch with fallen egg shells

Description: Imagine this. On a hot sunny day, you are feeling parched and it made you crave for a cup of iced cold lemonade. Seeing a plump, juicy lemon sitting in your fridge, you quickly grab a hold of it, eager to squeeze and savour every droplet in its pulps. However, things did not go as planned. You lost your grip and the lemon slipped out of your hands! Down the lemon goes as it plunges straight towards the floor. The next thing you know, “Crack!”, yellow runny yolk starts streaming out continuously from the… lemon? Puzzled, you stared at it for a good minute and wondered “Am I supposed to make a sour fried egg or a yolk lemonade out of this?”

This photo manipulation idea was partly inspired by a bizarre thought that I had while looking at the lemon in my fridge. I was trying to think what I could use to convince someone who has never seen a lemon before. I then thought that a raw egg would be suitable as it is yellow just like the lemon.

Final Outcome

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Reflection

While doing this project, I finally understood how people edit an image into another image. It was fascinating to me what the power of edits could do, transferring one subject into another image and making it look as if it belonged there in the first place. Not to mention, learning how to do double exposure definitely took me a lot of failed attempts and further exploration. Although I have made some mistakes along the way, I believe that it has also helped me learn and adapt faster to the tools and clipping masks I had to use. It was also intriguing to recolour black and white photos. It was like giving life to a dull photo and making it more realistic than it already looks.

I have learned how to use the adjustment layer to enhance my images and I think it is a basic skill we need to learn as it can be helpful in future works and collages. Overall, this project has helped me get used to and familiarise with the tools available in Adobe Photoshop.

While working on Project 2C, I was very fascinated by the surrealistic photo manipulations edits online. I was worried at first, thinking my results will not be as realistic as what I see online. However, I tried my best in both photoshooting and editing and I am glad that it turned out great. As I have gotten much more familiar with Adobe Photoshop now, I did not face as much challenges compared to previous projects. I could definitely see the little improvements that I have made and it was all thanks to the practicals and tutorials we had in class.